Maryland Art Place (MAP) is pleased to announce the appointment of Cathy Byrd as the organization’s new Executive Director.
After an expansive national search, MAP’s Board of Trustees has selected Cathy Byrd to lead the organization in efforts to maximize its engagement with the Baltimore cultural community. “Cathy’s background has prepared her for all of the opportunities available to MAP today. I have confidence that she will lead and strengthen the organization in significant ways,” says Suzi Cordish, Board chairperson.
Ms. Byrd comes to Baltimore after eight years as Director of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery at Georgia State University in Atlanta. In that position, she conceived and produced a series of contemporary art exhibitions and events that involved extensive local, national and international collaboration and outreach. Among her signature projects are Book Unbound; PG-13: Male Adolescence in a Video Culture; Strange Planet; Potentially Harmful: The Art of American Censorship; Re\constructing Atlanta: a contemporary continuum
(FYI — Female artists exploring issues of identity can still apply at the Losing Yourself site. Hurry, though – the deadline is approaching!)
During her tenure in Atlanta, Ms. Byrd co-organized public talks and performances by renowned artists including Ann Hamilton, Janine Antoni, Liliana Porter, Meschac Gaba and Karen Finley. A public art advocate, Ms. Byrd was a member of Atlanta’s Metropolitan Public Art Coalition. She served on review panels for city and county public art projects and for the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport’s newest international terminal. At GSU, she initiated and directed an annual Student Sculpture Garden Project, as well as a sustainable native garden in downtown Hurt Park, a temporary truck fountain in Cleopas R. Johnson Park, and Le Flash, a one-night performance art and installation event in Castleberry Hill District
Her engaging conceptual projects have been awarded significant funding through local, regional, national and international institutions, including the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Etant donnés: The French American Fund for Contemporary Art, and the Cultural Services of the French, Belgian and Dutch Consulates.
Ms. Byrd has produced books for Potentially Harmful and Re\constructing Atlanta and is currently completing a DVD box set to document New Wave Atlanta. She is a widely published art writer whose reviews and features on artists including Pierre Huyghe, Janet Biggs, Dan Graham, Carrie Mae Weems and Antoni Muntadas have appeared in contemporary magazine, London, Art in America, Sculpture, Art Papers, Beaux Arts and Public Art Review, among other publications.
Maryland Art Place (MAP) is a not-for-profit center for contemporary art established in 1981 to: develop and maintain a dynamic environment for regional artists to exhibit their work, nurture and promote new ideas and new forms, and facilitate rewarding exchanges between artists and the public through educational leadership. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm. There is no admission charge to enter the gallery or to participate in MAP’s regular programming. For more information, please visit: www.mdartplace.org
